Sustainability

In it for the long-term

Sustainability has never been a box-ticking exercise for us at the ICC. It’s something we believe passionately in, both as a venue, but more importantly as individuals. We also believe it’s key to achieving long-term growth for both our customers and ourselves, which is why it’s embedded into all our daily operations.

We’re proud to hold the ISO 14001:2004 accreditation for environment management systems, and have rolled out several different initiatives across the business to demonstrate our commitment to sustainability. Here are just a few of them.

CHP generator

A district-based scheme installed on site at the ICC to provide electricity, chilled water for air-conditioning and hot water for heating. In addition to reducing our carbon footprint, the scheme also enables us to sell carbon credits – the ultimate sustainability win-win.

Energy Consumption

Energy-saving sensors are fitted throughout the venue and we use reduced energy LED lighting wherever possible. Our monitored switch-off procedure also ensures that energy use is kept to a minimum in event spaces and offices, and that all equipment and lights are switched off when not in use.

Waste management

We’ve always been supporters of the 'reduce, reuse and recycle' mantra in terms of waste management. We separate and recycle glass, cardboard and paper waste, and incinerate all other waste to create electricity for local homes and businesses through Birmingham City Council’s Waste to Energy scheme. The resulting ash from this process is also stored and used as aggregate for road building.

Initiatives

We may be based in the city centre, but we’re still avid wildlife lovers. It’s why in 2007 we turned one of the ICC’s roof areas into an eco-friendly environment to increase insulation, enhance the landscape and most importantly attract urban species. It wasn’t long before the roof became a safe haven for the rare black redstart bird, whose continuing presence in the city was at the time precarious. You’ll also find a couple of bee hotels at the ICC, specifically installed to encourage Mason Bees to hold their own conferences in the area.

Catering

We go to great lengths to ensure consideration and innovation is evident on every plate. It’s why we ensure all our suppliers operate to either BRC Grade A or SALSA accreditation and are continually audited by our Food Safety Team. As our location is a key part of who we are as a venue, our chefs naturally see it as their responsibility to support local suppliers whenever possible too. In addition to the accreditations listed above, we also look out for the following quality stamps on every product we use in our dishes.

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Carbon neutral event

We work closely with event organisers to achieve ‘carbon neutral’ status for their events. This is achieved by paying particular attention to the ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ mantra and helping organisers put this into practice.

SUSTAINABILITY POLICY

At the ICC, we are committed to ensuring that through the work and events we deliver, we are as sustainable as possible.

VIEW THE POLICY